Lightspiral
by Stratossphere
Summary: When a world is invaded by an army of darkness there is only one solution: Summoning the legendary Keyblade Master.


An enigma. The sky that was once blue became that of an afterglow. Like a surprise a hole of darkness appeared above the mighty castle and spawned an endless storm of deep blots rained onto the grounds. As the passerby and onlookers stopped in their tracks to gape in awe at the sight before their eyes, in the back of their minds they knew it was the calm.

The blots became stranger as they contorted themselves into the weirdest of shapes that no living being should be possessing. They were once a tiny blot raining from the sky had become a large splat as they hit the ground. They caused a reverb upon the ground with each hit, and now the living knew they had mass. Before any thought could be placed into their thoughts, the darkness took form and attacked everything that were on their lifeless sight.

They multiplied in swarm.

How they move were unnatural

Everything slowly became a big blur with them in sight.

"Monsters!" One of the pursued screamed as he tripped and fell. "Get away! Get away!"

In the circle of crowds, a single heart fluttered above them. They eyed what became of the unfortunate man in silence, wondering what just happened. As the monster was finished in capturing its prey, the blob of darkness with a head and limbs of a small human turned toward everyone that had encircled it.

"We're going to die!" A single scream pierced through the atmosphere.

Never did anyone thought what came afterward was chaos itself.

Those black things falling from the sky were no more a distraction from their daily lives. And when a destructive idea were caught by their minds the people began to flee. So the people fled from their vantage points and ran for shelters, as the darkness began to devour the skies and rain further destruction upon the land below. Merchants had fled their shops and pedestrians had sheltered themselves under the nearest cover they could find. Some of the more devoted kneeled and prayed on the spot, hoping that the sky won't fall and crush them into a pile of red goo.

Each and every second was vital. As if they were instantaneously casted in sync to the appearance of the otherworldly threat, bells all over the city were rung. These sounds served as the beacon for their safety a guide to the nearest barricade. Only knights were allowed to rung these bells, but with the relieving thought of rescue came after the looming delusion of termination.

Ravaging through the air, the sky that had darkened to the point that no light can pierce through them were now dressed in particles of red and white. Flying dragons with knights riding on their back jousted lance-first into the sky. Destroying the downpour before it landed on Alexandria's green soil.

Simultaneously down below, the land troops marched with their steed through the now wild street. Passing by the people cowering in hiding to fight the onslaught of darkness that pummeled their defenses with each of their strikes. A squad of knights raised their shield and attacked in rhythm with their fellow squadrons, and the wizard and sorcerer behind them launched spells to destroy them clean. Though they will soon be overwhelmed, their creed refused them retreat as long as people were in danger.

Each and every side of the Prized Castle Walls of Alexandria's Fortress were slowly being encroached with them, like bugs crawling on top of walls. Archers had steadily destroyed the invaders' pacing with each arrows that they fired, and a few knights with spears would handle the ones that had managed to crawl through the arrows by stabbing through them until they were defeated.

Current problem, however, was handling the darkness that had entered the castle from above.

To secure the Very Important Persons, the Alexandria royalty, was the top priority for the knights that served under its banner. But with an onslaught this massive, everyone were too swamped with work to handle anything efficiently. The inner walls knights were severely undertrained and understaffed to accommodate the dire situation.

In all this chaos ran a girl and her two loyal retainers Biggs and Wedge. Biggs was a muscular guy wearing full armor and holding an axe one and half the size of his own body. Wedge was a lean but experienced marksman that dressed himself in cloaks and handling himself a pair of crossbows.

"Go on ahead, Princess Garnet. We'll handle the rest."

"Biggs' hammer and my crossbows can handle it. Hurry to the shelter, Princess!"

"I'm not going there," the princess replied as her retainers began cleaning through the hallway. "Take me to the center of the castle. Specifically the treasure room."

"Does the queen give you the okay?"

"I'll take full responsibility for it. I've already made the preparations with the other knights," casting a spell that enveloped Biggs' whole self in white she commanded her retainers. "Now we just need haste. We have quite the strict schedule."

"So it's a Thursday?" asked Biggs as he smacked a heartless into the next room.

"Goodness gracious I hate Thursday." Wedge sighed as he pierced through two flying heartless coming their way.

Of absolute haste, the three of them began running toward the center of the palace. Going in such a way that they passed through the shortest pathway inside the castle to reach it. Along the way meeting faces of soldiers and knights that the princess recognized. By the time they went to the lobby of the palace, however, it was swarming with so many monsters that it made Biggs and Wedge grinning wryly.

"Princess, this is as far as we can go."

"We'll cover you though."

Never before had Garnet bit her lips in helplessness, but after seeing what happened to what was this morning a pristine gathering hall for her people she needed to take the risks ahead. Clearing her mind, she nodded at their suggestion and ran ahead.

The princess title that she had was not given, but earned. She had trained under various knights that had seen her potential as a skilled warrior. Dodging the strike of the heartless ahead and around her while parrying attacks with minimal movements were just a par for the course situation for her. Biggs and Wedge weren't even worried that the princess would get even a scratch on her.

Past the lobby was the corridor that seemingly lead to a dead end, but that wall at the end of the long stretch of hallway was a disguised door hidden in plain sight. It can only be accessed by a select few people, and not many people in the kingdom knew of its existence. There, she met a few more of her knights making way for the princess to pass through.

"Princess. Hurry and head for the door!" A girl landed on the ground after slashing a doll-like figure of darkness into two. Turning her head around, the mature knight ordered her superior with intensity. Her hazelnut hair swayed in each of her movements to outdo the blobs of moving shadows. "There's not much time. Hurry!"

"We'll handle the heartless. We can handle it!" A boy in his teens jumped at the opportunity to thrust his spear into the army of blacks. "Go to the summoning chamber quickly! We can handle this no problem!"

The raven-haired girl in her frilly white dress stopped to turn toward her retainers before nodding at them, who nodded back at her, and ran for the end of the corridor. As she ran past many vacant rooms, a few dark and shadowy figures blitzed past the gap between the door and the floor and wiggled her way toward her. Pulling her staff from the holster, she casted a blinding light and stun the mysterious beings as she escaped from their ambush.

A single heartless leaped from one of the stunned shadow army that blocked the princess' way. Garnet leaped above the mound of shadows and pummeled the shadow to the side with her staff in a loud whack. As the heartless bounced against the corridor's wall, a fireball was launched toward it and made it burst into black explosion.

"Princess, over here!" A man in his sixties called for the running girl as he held a stone-made door ajar with one hand. His other hand hurriedly waving at the princess. "Inside here! Watch your steps!"

Behind the princess were a corridor encroaching in darkness itself that slowly made their way toward the two figure rushing inside the door. With the princess inside, the encroaching darkness was at the old man's arm's reach. Just before the darkness could grapple against the brittle arm of the acting minister of the princess' kingdom, the door shut off with a loud bang and repelled the darkness.

* * *

**X-Scene 01-X**

**X-Castle Basement – Summoning Chamber-X**

* * *

The summoning chamber was lit in a dim green light, emitted from a source below led from the set of marble stairs. The princess hiked up her long skirt with her hands and walked slowly down the steep drop. At the bottom, she found herself greeted by a large green crystal that illuminated the dark room in a dark green hue.

The room was shaped like the inside of an egg, and nary decorated with antiques or draped in the kingdom's proud banners. Before the pedestal that the large crystal was floating on top of waited three individuals each wearing different colored capes. From the princess' left to her right, they outfitted themselves in the colors of the four basic elements.

They are the Top Knights of the Kingdom of Alexandria. Selected from a long line of Knights that has tested their mettle firsthand in extraordinary combats. Each of them specializing in the elements that they were assigned in in which they complemented with their skills for their elements.

The Knight of Red of the Fire element. Specializing in aggressive battles that favored on boldness and good instinct. Usually, the man better known as Tiz Arrior was calm and composed when he was not fighting. But being stationed inside a cramped and isolated place while his men were being slaughtered just outside made him uneasy. He was falling back to his old habit of tapping his foot, though so light it was almost unnoticeable if the eyes weren't affixed there. At the sight of the princess, however, Tiz's worries slowly went away.

"My liege. I am forever thankful that you are alright," he prepared to bow but the princess pulled up her hand as she shook her head. It was not the time for pleasantries, though it is always welcomed. Tiz, without a word from the princess, agreed accordingly to her wishes. "My apologies. Indeed we must quickly summon that hero."

"I'm so glad you're okay, Garnet. But now I had to ask, will this truly work?" The Knight of Green of the Wind element removed the hood that had hung over her head. "To be perfectly honest, Princess. I don't think we should even do this ritual. The stress it will take upon your body is simply ludicrous." The blonde-haired girl was known as Edea Lee. She was as swift as the wind and a master in quick decision. She was, for the better or for the worst, a chronic patient of skepticism. "If this ritual failed, all of us will be too weak to even stand a chance on fighting the remaining heartless. Do we even try and risk the chance?"

"Don't worry." The one in the black-colored robe spoke. As everyone in the room looked toward the daunting figure too lean for his robe, under his hood revealed a man wearing a mask. It was crafted as engraving on top of a pitch black steel. He looked at the princess straight from his eyes, before moving his sight toward Edea. "Princess Garnet knows the extension of her powers. And with a vessel as big as this Binchotite, the summoning is almost certainly a success with next to no possibility of failure."

"When you put it that way, Alternis. I guess I can believe our chances."

"That's the spirit, Edea. I knew you'd be easily persuaded."

"Is that a bad thing?" Edea winced as she turned for her caller.

"It's definitely a good thing," Alternis chuckled. "For me, mostly."

"You're such a—" Edea grumbled as she her fist shook. But then she sighed and held her anger in and stared at the stairways the princess came from. "Anyone else hear footsteps?"

"Be careful guys. If it's an enemy, we fight." Tiz gripped on his sword behind the robe. Edea and Alternis followed by readying their weapons. "Here it comes.

Though the mood was lighter, the heartfelt air dissipated when a hooded figure in white robe appeared alongside a wounded soldier hanging onto the figure's shoulder. At the sight of the kingdom's best knight in a tattered rag, they couldn't muster the chance to laugh or felt long relieve at their situation just now. Even when the figure under the hood greeted them with a smile.

"I made it back just fine, Princess," the bruised knight handed over the defeated soldier toward Alternis' shoulder. As he job was over, the Princess quickly casted a spell of recovery toward the visible wounds the knight may have. "Sorry it took a long while. I was carrying my plus one."

"Don't speak," the princess reprimanded. "Just focus on recovering."

"Is it because of the ritual?"

"No you fool!" the royalty yelled before the female knight's face. Her hands were now placed onto the knight's cheek. "You're important to me, Beatrix. A friend first and a knight next." Garnet suddenly saw a hand holding a glass of water. She recognized the hand which belonged to the acting minister of Alexandria: Tellah. At that notion of a helping hand, the princess smiled. "Thank you, minister Tellah. Would you mind helping us for a bit before we start the ritual?"

"I don't particularly mind, Princess Garnet." The minister let out a short, but happy laugh. "It has been a very long time since I had to do something laborious. Makes me miss the old times I was a spiffy magical researcher." Turning to Edea and Tiz, the minister sternly asked. "I trust that you two will take care of the wounded soldier, yes?"

"Of course, Minister Tellah." Tiz nodded, and Edea responded afterward. "Though I hate to ask," said Tiz as he settled the wounded soldier on top of his cape laid onto the floor. "But who's this boy? Haven't seen him before"

"A month ago, my old mentors asked me if he could let this man become an apprentice knight in Alexandria. I look up to them and are grateful for what they did for me in the past, so I can't just say no." Reminiscing the past, Beatrix couldn't help but laugh. "To be honest, I was expecting a wuss. Thought what I got was more of a diamond in a rough."

"I understand that part," Edea cut in "But what about his name?"

"Max. Though his father called him in a more affectional manner."

"A doting parent? Must be nice." Though filled with sadness, Garnet's word was also loaded with a tinge of happiness.

"Wait, guys. The boy's waking up." As she felt the consciousness of the boy through his change of breathing, Tellah hurriedly gave Edea a glass of water. Which in turn was quickly placed before the boy's lips. "Come on big guy. Have a drink."

And the boy did so. First sip was rather weak, but as he gulped he was awake and fetched himself the glass from Edea's hand. "I'm sorry. But let me drink it myself." Max said in-between drinking. "Oh boy that's refreshing."

"Good morning Maxie. I'm sure you're up for job?"

"Commander Beatrix, please don't call me by that name. It's embarrassing."

"It's your fault I had to carry you here like a lug of log. My advice next time? Strengthen your defenses. That was almost too sloppy for my comfort" Beatrix, though already in the mood to debrief his trainee further, denied herself for more and went straight to the point. "Time is short. What you did was just enough to get us through the ordeal and I'm very proud, but we need to get ready to do the summoning ritual. No buts. Understood?"

"What do you mean I'm going to help?" Max looked around the room, then Beatrix, and saw everyone nodding with her. "Gosh, I'm honored but um... I'll try my best." Max turned toward the princess. His eyes were clear and empowered thoroughly by his will. He was truly ready, though his wounds were many and hurting him in every second he was moving. "By your command, Princess Garnet."

With all eyes now focused on Garnet, she gave them a single nod. "Everyone spread out and make a circle behind me and facing the Binchotite. Once all of you are ready, I'll start the summoning ritual."

"Princess, just to be sure," Edea asked as she got to her position. "We are going to summon a Keyblade Master, right? So who's it going to be?"

"Will it be Master Riku, the one that walks the road to dawn?" Asked Artemis.

"I hope it will be Master Axel, the one that kindles the fire of justice!" Pitched Tiz.

"Well," Garnet crossed her arms together. "The legends say that the Keyblade Masters of old were the warriors that would give hope whenever they appeared. Someone that will dispel the darkness in their era. A beacon of good in a world's times of need. Whoever is summoned here, they will be the sword and shield against the darkness that has plagued our lands. When the mighty warrior grace us with their entrance, let us welcome our champion with open arms."

Edea nodded, followed by Artemis and Tiz.

By the princess' command, the ritual began. As her subjects got themselves into their position, Princess Garnet raised both of her hands above her head and called upon the power of herself, her friends, and the Binchotite. Soon, the large crystal began illuminating brighter and brighter in a lighter green hue. At first it was dazzling, but soon after it was blinding.

Engulfing everyone in its shattering wake.

* * *

**X-Scene 02-X**

* * *

After everyone's vision was free from the blur, the princess and her compatriots found themselves staring at a floating girl with a flowing, shoulder-length hair. She was wearing a white and thick vest over a red and black shirt. Her pants were form-fitting, but also long enough that it covered both of her shins. A thick and black leather boots had both of their laces tied neatly.

Her eyes were closed, and when it opened everyone stared at how mysterious those sapphires that were staring blankly into open space. As she landed comfortably into what was once the pedestal of the binchotite, a green energy that was visible to the eyes began to develop around her. And as soon as they appear, they soon disappeared into the body of the girl before all of their very eyes.

But their time to admire the girl had come to a short stop as an explosion could be heard from above them. As if they were on cue, a few heartless in tiny suits of gray armor appeared from the stairways alongside the rubbles from the wall that held them back before. One of the three leaped from there and lunged toward the princess, who reflexively crouched while her arms were shielding her body from harm. As her knights were taken by surprise, however, a glint of light slashed straight into the heart of the heartless.

"Will you help us fight the heartless?"

As the heartless was struck down by the giant key-shaped blade, Princess Garnet reached out for her savior.

The summoned girl nodded. Standing tall, she held her giant key in both of her hands as if it was a blade. Swiftly, she slashed through the incoming onslaught of knights that had decided to dogpile her along with the shadows that began forming from the leaking darkness with ease. After confirming that the stream of heartless had ended, she made the key disappear and stared as the lights glittered to the void.

"Leave it to me," the girl turned around. Her smile was warm enough that all the worries inside the princess' heart began to melt away.

"Wait," the princess called out as the keyblade-wielder walked up the stairs. "May I ask your name?"

"Kairi," the girl answered. "My name is Kairi."

With the spawning of a few more heartless along the stairway, Kairi dashed toward them and began making short work of them. The entire room fell silent to the sight of the blinding warrior. Some of them out of breath and could only look from afar.

"I'm going to chase after her," said the knight that flimsily stood while catching his breath. Netting a lot of attentions from the knights, Tellah and Garnet, Max could only laugh. "I'm not that tired anyway."

"Wait," said a piercing voice to interrupt the rookie. "I'll chase after her too. And you're coming with me, Maxie."

"Can you keep up, Aunt Beatrix?"

"I'll punch you into the next week if you say that again. Princess, by your leave."

"I'm not going to stop you, but you two better come back safely," in a mix of fatigue and understanding Garnet smiled. "I'm not taking no for an answer."

With both of them grinning and giving their bow, the two warriors of Alexandria ran to the top of the stairways. Sounds of wild fighting and loud destruction soon could be heard by everyone in the room. After they were gone, the princess slowly tended to the knights and Tellah that had been sapped out of their stamina.

* * *

**X-Scene 03-X**

**X-Castle Lobby-X**

* * *

Kairi let out a grunt as she sliced an incoming knight heartless into two and stabbing through a set of shadows into dust with a single stroke. Her movements weren't dull and her body felt even more energetic than it should be. The whole lobby that was once cramped with heartless had shrunk into a considerable size that the onlookers could only gape in awe at the sight.

A few knights that weren't slacking on their job were supporting the lone warrior, but even they couldn't keep up with the damage output of the keyblade master. Biggs and Wedge were relegated into guarding the knights that were hurt while letting Kairi took care of the army of darkness. When she first appeared to help them, they were more or less in constant doubt. But after she singlehandedly decimated a sizable chunk of them they trust her skill more than ever.

After an overhead slash into a landing, Kairi lined her keyblade toward the few remaining heartless that had coupled themselves into the center of the lobby. "Blizzard!" Yelled the girl and from the tip of her silver-metallic blade launched a spray of cold and hard ice barrages. Each of those frozen attacks hit the heartless pile hard and made them explode into smithereens.

"And that's the castle's lobby," Kairi made the keyblade disappear as her shoulders relaxed.

Turning toward the knights tending toward the wounded, she picked a few bandages and began tending for the few people that had not been tended. It was surprising for them at first, but they soon became accustomed with their newfound situation.

"Tell me, when did this happen?"

"Me?" Asked the wounded knight. To that, Kairi nodded. "Well, it all started when a portal of darkness appearing all of a sudden from the sky. It was nothing like we've ever seen before. Heck, we were not trained to handle any of this."

"No one are, silly." The keyblade master smiled as she tied the bandage into a knot. "Good job for surviving this far."

"Thank you."

"Hey, Keyblade Master." Biggs, after resting the wounded soldier into a makeshift bed made out of the kingdom's banner, called out. "Are you going to destroy the darkness portal up in the sky? You'll need a ride for that, don't you?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. Any suggestions?"

"I can lend you the castle's prized airship," answered Wedge as he dipped antiseptic to a wincing girl's wound. "Alright girl, hold still now."

"How do I get to that airship? Do I just take some stairs somewhere?"

"No, no. None of that," Wedge replied as he pointed the big gate that was facing the main mural of the lobby. "That huge door lead outside. If you look to the right after you're outside you'll see a gigantic tower guarded by a barrier. You can find the best airship the Kingdom of Alexandria have to offer at the top of that tower. You'll need a few crew to operate it though, so save some people while you're at it."

"Thank you very much, sir Knight." Kairi nodded. "I'll see you later then."

As she ran toward the door outside and unlocking it, Biggs and Wedge gave her the thumbs up and harmoniously replying with a "Thanks for helping us, Keyblade Master."

As Kairi exited the lobby, she peeked through the ajar door and gave them a big grin and a thumb up before it closed.

"Goodness gracious, what a girl."

"Thursdays are awesome."

* * *

**X-Scene 04-X**

**X-Airship Tower-X**

* * *

"What a big tower," Kairi remarked as her voice was brimming with exasperation. She counted around seven to eight floors at minimum. "I'm going to have a _fun_ time scaling this. I hope they at the least have elevators."

Before the female keyblade master was a tower that was even taller than the main castle itself. It was located inside a small clearing surrounded by vast forest. The barrier of light successfully repelled heartless of lower strength, but some of the stronger heartless managed to infiltrate either by brute force or by warping inside it. She had handled the soldiers and knights heartless that had been present in the tower's courtyard.

Her eyes then locked themselves toward the big swirling portal of darkness that was stuck on the sky of Alexandria. She wasn't sure if hitting it really hard with a keyblade would be able to fix things in the long run, but she had to try whatever she could try to help.

Entering through the tower's front door, she was ambushed by a few lizard-like heartless that had blended into the shadows. Their red emblem prevalent in their forehead and they skitter themselves toward the weaponized warrior like a lizard would. Hissing as they leaped toward Kairi, she dodged a pair of sharp claws by side-stepping to their left and whacked one of them in the face. The slammed lizard had its face distorted with a hit of the keyblade and was sent flying into the tower's inner wall. After the loud bump was heard, the other lizard was promptly pinned against the tower's door by the metallic key and disappear into a black mist.

Sensing that it was unnatural, Kairi stepped back as the lizard's claw sprout from the marble floor. As her shoes skidded from her sudden movement, Kairi dashed forward and was met with a gigantic pair of claw from the puddle of black shadow where the claw had sprouted from. With a wry grin she ducked with the keyblade forward and slammed her full body weight against the heartless.

After launching herself above the lizard, she held her keyblade tightly before launching a keyblade straight through the lizard and it was defeated in a bright light. What remained was a keyblade that was stabbed into the ground blade first.

Pulling it out, Kairi was ready for battle again. Looking around the room, she couldn't spot the lizard that had been smacked against the wall. "Where did you go?" Stretching her fingers as she got ready in her battle stance, she asked the empty air that question. Focusing with her ear, she made sure she would pick up the slightest difference in the air.

The keyblade master scouted around the room. A double-helix staircase were crafted at the edges of the room and running upward up to the topmost floor in the tower. They were made out of stones and marbles, colored brown. Kairi subconsciously walked onto the right stairs as if she were drawn to them. She tapped the stair with her keyblade, and it was indeed hard. She could scale the tower easily by climbing up the stairs, though it would definitely be a long climb.

As she heard footsteps somewhere on the tower, she bolted up the stairs and hurried to the second floor. She didn't have to worry about falling from a great height as safety handles were installed on its edges. But, as she was about to enter the second floor, a lizard-like figure jumped from the wall on her right side and blindsided her against the railings.

With only a keyblade separating the heartless' sharp teeth and Kairi's face, Kairi ducked and transferred the weight of her enemy and threw the enemy crashing through the safety railings. Swiftly, Kairi let out a loud scream as she threw her keyblade like a boomerang toward the falling heartless. As her keyblade destroyed the lizard, it came back to her in a whirl.

Recovering back her keyblade, the girl continued up the stairs to the second floor.

The second floor consisted of a circular platform that stretched against the tower's inner wall. There were four doors connected to each directions of the wind, each one shaped and crafted the same. Metallic engravings of a lion etched into each and one of them. When she entered the doors, each of them were empty but for a few loots. Except for one, where a giant diamond-shaped green crystal the shape of a person was floating in place.

She inspected it with her hands. It was hard and solid, like an encasing that shelter a treasure inside of them. It was big, as tall as her height, so big it could encase a whole person inside of it. She tried knocking it with her hand, and she found the tapping resulting in a hollow echo inside it. She had nothing to lose as she eyed her keyblade with a growing smile on her face. It felt natural to tap it with the keyblade, and when she did the green crystal shined brightly revealing a man in a uniform that was of an engineer.

"Thank you for saving me!" the middle aged man quickly grabbed his savior's hand with his own big and muscular hand and shook it with great enthusiasm. He was grinning happily amidst his buffet of beards that connected to his mustache, knowing he was freed from his indestructible prison. "The name's Zappa. I'm Alexandia's chief of engineer and blacksmith. I don't know what happened to me before now. I blanked out for a moment while trying to find my tools I need for maintenance and here I am now! If there's anything I can do for you, just let me know."

Kairi couldn't help but wonder who that villain he was talking about would be, though there were pressing matters to do. "Well, I was going to borrow this kingdom's airship, but I don't know how to operate them."

"Airship you say?" He rubbed his chin as his eye glanced around the girl's seemingly frail body. "I'll tell you what, let me help you. Can't let my skill rust and all. What do you want to do with the kingdom's airship anyway?"

"I'm thinking of ramming it to the portal of darkness outside."

"You're thinking of what?"

"Don't worry, that's going to be my last resort," Kairi giggled to the questionable look that Zappa gave her. "Not your kind of humor?"

"Young lady, I only know you for around three minutes and I don't even know your name but you're scaring me. A lot." Zappa pinched his right temple as if mitigating a headache. "I see you're one of those legendary Keyblade Warriors, may I know your name?"

"Kairi. It's nice to meet you."

"Alright, miss Kairi. Let's find us our airship."

After a nod, both of them walked outside only to be in contact with many dark blob-like beings crawling around the platform. As fast as the wind they attacked with little to no provocations, but Kairi held up her keyblade forward and parried a claw against the wall. To this sudden revelation, Zappa being a sensible person started whacking one that got too close for comfort with a big hammer. In a big whacking sound, the shadow was hammered flat into the ground before disappearing into a pile of black fogs.

"Well I'll be damned," Zappa stared at his hammer glowing green on its iron as he twirl it in his hand. "Didn't expect it to work, but whatever works work!"

"There's just a minor problem. We're surrounded," said Kairi calmly as she whacked a soldier back into the first floor. "We have to bolt it toward the airship. Can you help me for a few bits, Zapppa? Stairs over there, we just need to destroy everything in our path there."

"I thought you'd never ask, young lady!"

"Nice," Kairi grinned as she turned around and slammed her keyblade against a lizard that was leaping toward Zappa's blind spot. The lizard bumped against the floor as it wiggled around in pain, before Zappa smashed its head in with a hammer and destroying it to nonexistence. "Good follow-up. Now we break through!"

Running and smashing along the circular pathway to the helix staircase, they began ascending to the third floor. With both of them at the third floor, Kairi aimed her keyblade at the opening where they emerged from and casted blizzard onto it. With one of the entrance blocked off she ran toward the next one and blocked that exit with the same solution. For the large opening at the center of the room, she waited for a heartless to appear from there, but they never did.

"Those monsters, what are they?" Zappa asked as they walked from one room to the next finding another Binchotite crystal. "They're definitely not something you'd find anywhere else. At least I don't think so!"

"Short answer, they're heartless. Long answer, they're a being of pure darkness that feeds on the darkness inside someone's heart. They were once beings that can only be found inside the Realm of Darkness, and seeing them here means it's not a good thing." Opening a locked chest with her keyblade, she looted herself a few potions from inside it. In good faith, she turned to Zappa and tossed one bottle toward him. "That means someone's messing around with them, again. Can't ever catch a break with these guys."

"So that's why this tower's pretty empty." Taking a deep breath, Zappa began. "Poor schmucks must've been eaten by them alive."

"Well, yes and no. Somehow I found you encased inside a crystal thing. Big, green, floating."

"A Binchotite Crystal? I'm inside that thing?"

"So you didn't realize that?" Kairi looked at the shelves and found nothing of interest. "That'd suck."

"Oh, you bet it was," Zappa shuddered at the thought. "Felt like I was blanking out, floating around in a vast space filled with nothing."

Kairi looked at the man with a raised eyebrow.

"It's true! Well, enough about me and back at the heartless," swerved Zappa as she went back to the previous conversation. "You've fought them on a regular basis, huh?" Said Zappa as he drank the potion. It tasted like sports drink in green color. "Well, considering who you are I'm not that surprised. You're a keyblade wielder afterall. Practically destiny at this point, haha!"

"Yeah," the girl snorted, chuckling as she swung her keyblade left and right. "Some destiny this is."

By the time they went into the last room, they finally found another gigantic Binchotite Crystal shining quite brightly in the lonely corner. It was covered with a purple blanket, but there was almost no dust covering the top of the blanket. Looking at Zappa and back at the floating crystal again, she tapped the crystal and it began to glow brighter in green.

"Whoa!" Zappa screamed as he covered his eyes.

Kairi was good with both of her eyes opened. She had seen something more ridiculous than this.

From the bright green light appeared a girl that fell on her butt and yelped. She stood up after fixing her glasses with her hand, taking her time to compose herself.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my good assistant Lucca," Zappa shook his head with a big grin. "I knew you'd be too tough for those heartless."

"Heartless?" Lucca asked as she rubbed her butt after it began to sting. "You're the one that rescued me, right? Thanks for saving me. Don't know why I'm consciously seeing blackness back then but that was too spooky, even for me!" She giggled, nervous all the while. "My name is Lucca. I see chief engineer Zappa's with you, I'm his assistant by the way, but who are you and what do we have here?" Lucca scowled as she inspected the yellow and white giant key she was holding in her hand. "Looks like a key-shaped blade. Oh my Gosh, it's a keyblade!"

"My name is Kairi, and don't get too excited yet," Kairi smiled as she moved her keyblade away from Lucca. "We're not out of the woods, so to say."

"Is there any problem here?"

"Yeah. There are heartless outside and everyone's stuck inside a giant green crystal."

"A Binchotite Crystal?"

"Yeah. Do you remember what happened before you were stuck there?" As she opened another chest with a potion inside it, she immediately gave Lucca one. "Meanwhile, drink this. Tastes like sports drink."

"Thanks," said Lucca as she sipped the potion. "And I don't remember. Maybe if I know how I was made into a Binchotite Crystal I can try to figure out who or what makes the magic happen." After that she raised her glass of potion and downed everything inside her hatch. "Man this is really good for fatigue."

"Just drink it in moderation. But now we should head for an airship."

"Airship?" Lucca was following them from behind while looking confused at that part of her sentence. "What do you need it for?"

"Apparently the young lady wants to ram the airship into a portal of darkness."

"And you approved?"

"Not entirely. I'll see what I can do and can't do once I saw what's going on outside," The three of them began climbing to the fourth floor, with Kairi's eyes trailing toward the frozen entrances to the third floor. She smiled when it was still intact with no enemies in her sight. "If push comes to shove, might as well toast an Airship or two into it. We can just make more afterall."

"Even if we have to crash the Queen's prized?"

"It's either that or the Kingdom, apparently. Hey, Kairi, how about the knights and Princess Garnet?"

"The knights are hanging in there, but they can't really hold on for much longer." Kairi spoke as she scouted from the opening of the fourth floor. This floor was different from the last two floors, only two doors this time. She opened one on her left first, to find a humanoid heartless in minimal armor jumping straight toward her. She pivoted back and to her right before slashing it in two with minimal motion. "These things are persistent. We'll get outnumbered and fatigued sooner or later."

Both Zappa and Lucca agreed as they armed themselves with their current weapons. Lucca pulled out something close to her chest a weapon in some form of a gun, though steampunk in design. After looting a map pertaining to their current location, which looked more like an unfinished blueprint, she walked toward the room on the other side. As she was about to open the door, she saw something flashing green seeping out of the door. Afterward, she heard something from the other side of the room and pulled up her palm toward her companions.

"Wha—" Zappa was about to say something before Kairi pulled up her palm close to her hand and shushed through her index finger. Blinking twice, Zappa realized what was going on and nodded in silence.

"What's wrong?" Lucca asked in a whisper.

"I heard something. Quick, listen." While whispering, she motioned her palm to have them get closer to the door. The three of them quickly pressed their ears toward the door and found voices belonging to a person from behind the wooden door. "What's going on here?"

The voice from the room was muffled and mostly unclear, but it belonged to an intelligent being capable of speech. "...I've placed—" the voice was too unclear to be heard by everyone from the other side. "Just as you've commanded."

"Commanded?" Zappa asked, and with that he met a few silent shush from the girls.

"Affirmative—" the voice said, before a bright violet light appeared for a second from the gap between the door and the floor. "I'm returning to—" and this was the cue for Kairi to kick open the door, only to find nothing inside the room except a large green crystal in the middle of the room. A trace of darkness, however, could be found from behind the floating crystal.

"Damn, we're too late!" Lucca stressed out as she tapped her feet against the floor. "But now we know someone's doing something fishy here."

"Damned shady bastards!"

"First thing first, let's free this one." Kairi tapped the Binchotite Crystal with her keyblade and it began to shine brightly. Zappa was now accustomed to it, but Lucca was blinded with awe at the process. From inside the Binchotite was a young man with a heavy but lean build. He wore his clothes like a thug, with fashion mimicking the essence of a tough guy. A bandana in leaf green patterns over his head and a shoulder-length brown hair to complete the package. After falling down onto the floor in a slouch, Kairi quickly realized something was wrong and pulled out a bottle of potion. "Hold on. You'll be okay after drinking this."

With a shred of conscience left, the big man snatched the bottle quickly and gulped everything quickly. After recovering his health, he sat and began breathing roughly to the point he was almost hyperventilating. "Thanks for saving me. Damn that masked assailant. I was no match for him."

"What assailant?" Lucca asked. "Wait, you're Shears right? What are you doing in the airship tower instead of the underground metallurgy department?"

"I was here to deliver some stuff from the castle as per Elfe's order," he pointed toward a desk filled with a few small wooden crates. "Those are some of the recently made modified steel ingots Chief Zappa ordered. S'up chief?" Zappa waved his hand as he went for his order. "I heard a few commotions along the way, saying it's a state of emergency and was evacuating people in the tower to the fifth floor where the barrier crystal is located. I was about to do some patrol downstairs after I heard someone fighting down below and found myself lured into a trap."

"And you lost?" Zappa chuckled as he mused about the good craftsmanship from the metallurgy team. "I was hoping someone will knock some sense out of you, you wild bear."

"Yeah, laugh it up old man. I'm sure you weren't even able to put up a fight," Shears returned mockingly, grinning all the while. With a few low grumbling from Zappa's side, Kairi chuckled. "So, you're the one that saved me from that dark void, right? I can't say how grateful I am for that."

"Thanks, but your tenacity was more commendable."

"Lucca, Shears, Kairi, you better help bring these things to the fifth floor. If we want to use an airship we need all of these on board." Zappa said as he stacked a few boxes. He then gave a box to Lucca, three stacks of boxes for him to bring himself, two for Kairi, and four for Shears. Totaling in ten boxes, they all looked at each other before confirming they can bring them safely upstairs. "We all good? Let's go then."

Kairi nodded, and the four of them then went out the door and up toward the fifth floor.

* * *

**X-Scene 05-X**

**X-Airship Tower 3rd Floor-X**

* * *

"How many more do I need to push back, Captain!?"

"These Ice are frozen solid. Give me thirty seconds!"

"At least do it in twenty!"

Max and Beatrix were bickering amidst the attacking heartless that slowly creeped their way in. Max has learned how to harm and destroy the heartless, but to think of completely vanquishing them would be his first mistake. All heartless not destroyed by a Keyblade will stay in place and regenerate given enough time, and racing against time when cornered against an ice wall is not a good sign for the both of them.

Though resigning to their fate, a glimmer of hope was apparent in their faces. As Beatrix heard a crack on the ice, Max quickly turned around and pushed through the ice with his shoulder and broke through the deadlock. With a cast of thunder, Beatrix rushed behind Max to the next floor. The fourth floor was empty of darkness, but the stairs below were swarming with soldiers and lizards working their way up small helix-shaped stairs.

"Upstairs!" Beatrix pointed and they both rushed without exchanging any dialogues. The visit to the fifth floor was rushed, as a few soldiers ambushed them from the stairs leading up. But with Beatrix covering for Max's inexperience, she defeated the ambushing heartless with no less than two slashes of her sword each. "Don't let your guard down, Maxie!"

"I'm sorry!" Max apologized in a hurry.

Going up the fifth floor, a gigantic heartless blocked their way. It's big and round with not a protection found on its front. As Max tried to ram the heartless in its stomach with his fist, it bounced off of it and send Maxie a few steps back. With the fat heartless now lunging toward Max stomach first, Beatrix had to once again save Max from his end. Pushing Max with her shoulder, they just narrowly escaped certain pain from the being made out of darkness.

"Maxie, get ready to toss me up."

Maxie, who was trying to balance his stance, looked at Beatrix for a second before nodding. Placing his back against the heartless that had wobbled his feet to look straight at Max. "I'll do my best."

With a short sprint, Beatrix ran and jumped toward Max's chest leg first. Landing the leg on Max's open palms that acted as a jumping pad, Max launched Beatrix above the heartless and landed behind the heartless. Afterward, a skewer straight into the heartless' back was enough for Beatrix to shishkabob it before she lifted the heartless into the air and swung it toward Max.

Now in the air, Max aired the stairs they climbed from and smashed the fat man into the swarm of heartless that has made their way there. Looking around, Max found the rooms have been opened and both Max and Beatrix had confirmed there were nothing in the rooms except crates upon crates of stashed away spare parts for the airships stationed in the tower. With their role done for this floor, they head upstairs while making sure they didn't leave anything behind.

Heading for the Landing Port at the end of these stairs was not so easy afterall.

* * *

**X-Scene 06-X**

**X-Landing Port-X**

* * *

Empty.

There were nary a soul left in the tower except the three souls she found inside the binchotite crystals. No second guessing on what happened about all of those missing persons. Though Zappa felt himself responsible for all of the lives lost, all hopes were not lost. The prized airship that the Kingdom had guarded was still safely intact.

Though they were understaffed, four people would be sufficient enough to fly an airship, or so Lucca assured. While Shears was loading the stocks of parts, Kairi couldn't help but stare at the airship before her eyes. Zappa mentioned the significance of it being placed at the center of the landing port. Surrounded by smaller fleets of airships around it, the gigantic airship was to be the last bastion of counterattack and he meant it.

The airship, though not big enough to eclipse a castle in size, was large enough to house at least a village inside it. The exterior were completely plated in sturdy metal refined from the mythical ore known as mythril. It took intense amount of labors from both the miners and the engineers in a joint effort to create a state of the art vehicle that were leagues ahead of its world's technology. It was unlike the gummi ships that Kairi had the chance to be familiar with. Painted not red with yellow stripes, but bright white with blue stripes.

The main body consisted of a large cylindrical shape with four engines attached to it. One in each side of its large, sharp silver wings and two larger ones at the rear-side of its large body frame. On the front-side of its cylindrical head were armaments of war such as turrets and rockets. Above the parts where the wing and the main body merged were something akin to a launcher, but Kairi didn't know what it was for. A cannon-like shape protruded out of the top of its main body, formed out of a more refined and sturdier steel out of a bundle of highly concentrated mythril ores. Whatever salvo would be loaded into that cannon would surely penetrate anything in the airship's way.

Now, they were ready to set sail. Everyone was inside the loading port, sparsely filled with steel boxes. She placed her hands over the left-side wall, feeling the coldness of the machine becoming warmer as she approached a heated spot. Impulsive as her fingers were, they recoiled from the sheer danger they felt. Looking at her open palm, she found a slight burn mark appearing on her fingertips and disappeared as fast as it had appeared.

"Watch out over there, Keyblade Master. Those section of the walls are where the heating pipes are all lined up."

Rubbing her seared fingertips with a wry laugh, she hastily made her way to the stairs.

From the long flight of stairs would be the lobby of the airship that connected many parts of the ship easily. It also doubled as a recreational room of sort as it contained a few comfortable-looking sofas and a few shelves of selected books.

"Kairi, I think you should read this." Lucca handed a thin and light magazine to the Keyblade Master. She flipped a few pages before finding herself the content listings. Reading a few out of it, she turned her head back to Lucca with a raised eyebrows. "It's basically a friendly guide for newbies on airship maneuvering. I'm sure you've rode one before, but it's never a bad idea to refresh your memories."

"Thank you, Lucca." Kairi replied with a cheery smile.

To tell the truth, she had once taken an interest in riding the predecessors of the gummi ships. But she hadn't had the time to fully commit on that part of her life. It was strange, as she began to thoroughly examine the words etched onto each pages of the beginner's manuals she felt as if she knew about this information all along. And as she finished reading all of it, though still unsure about a few pieces that refused to fall into its appropriate places, she could feel the knowledge of air maneuvers being remembered from the top of her head to the tip of her toes.

"Hey," from the other side of the room, the sofa she was sitting on, Shears called for Kairi. "I found a binchotite crystal in the cockpit. Thought I'd just let you know. I'm going to the engine room now to check the fuel tanks. Can't have malfunctions happening mid-flight, right?"

"That's a wonderful news! I'll be sure to head there immediately."

"Cockpit's through the door just behind me. Lucca's also there to calibrate the propellers and wings or something or other. You might want to help her out a bit."

"Alright," Kairi waved at Shears as she went toward the door leading to the cockpit. "A binchotite in the airship of all places." The girl pondered with each step that she took. "Is this all a coincidence or is there something fishy going on here."

But her train of thought stopped as she found the binchotite being used as a make-shift stool for Lucca to reach for a higher cabinet. After scolding her, she released the person inside the crystal. It was a girl with her hair tied up. She wore a turtleneck under a white research coat. Her black hair was ruffled and looking again she was disheveled. Adjusting her glasses, she turned toward Kairi with a thousand questions in her mind.

"What happened here? I was checking the control room and making sure everything was working optimally, and then I feel like I'm inside a dark and lonely place for a long minute," the girl shakily rose up and find herself struggling to stand tall. But she managed somewhat. "My name is Shera. And thank you for saving me. It's an honor to meet you."

She gestured for a handshake, and Kairi took her hands and shook them.

"I'm Kairi. It's nice to meet you."

Afterward, everyone was doing their best to make controlling the airship work. Shera would check on the propulsion system and regulate the fuel consumptions. Shears would main the lookout bay and warn for potential collision as well as fire the weaponries. Lucca would check the magic system that controlled the flying vehicle that kept it all together and working.

Kairi would main the ship, controlling it behind the wheel.

As she gripped the wooden controlling wheel looking straight at the exit tunnel, her hands shook nervously. She didn't know how to drive an airship. Never knew how, this will be her first.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.**

**Hello there. Stratosphere here.**

**This will be my first time writing a Kingdom Hearts fanfiction. I hope it's a good first attempt. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Leave it in your review. The more constructive it is the better.**

**May your heart be your guiding key.**

* * *

"The airship is moving!"

"Maxie come on we need to get on it quickly!"

As the airship exited its landing platform, the two warriors ran for it with all their might. The airship had an emergency entrance that could be opened from the outside. It's located on each side of the lower-part, directly linked to the hallways linking both sides of its staff rooms and its communal areas.

Beatrix ran faster than Max, and with that she leaped toward the tiny platform where the door was placed.

She succeeded.

As the open air bursts from the open skies, the gust deterred the speed of Max's stride. But when he saw his teacher extending her hand expecting him to reach her, he pushed his body to his limit. And then he jumped at the last possible moment.

Everything was moving slowly.

Max's hand inching desperately toward Beatrix's.

With their hands intertwined, Beatrix pulled him up and Max swiftly opened the emergency door. As the two went inside, alarms blared and the lights went into full caution mode. Reds were blazing on their sight as a girl slid on the intersection holding her weapon.

The girl readied her key-shaped blade, her body standing ready for battle.

And then she threw her blade, slinging it past both warriors and landing onto a ball of darkness that had floated inside the airship. Once all the blobs were outside, Max reached for the opened door and closed it. Beatrix then locked the door by turning the handle.

The two sighed in relieve, and then looked at the Keyblade warrior.

"Hey," Max greeted. "Thanks for the help." A nervous laugh came from his mouth, unsure of what to do in this situation.


End file.
